1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of filter performance in a manufacturing environment, and in particular, relates to the field of conditioning and generating an automatic evaluation in situ of a filter prior to becoming operational in an industrial production facility.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A recognized insufficiency of known prior art filter conditioning and evaluation process apparatus in industrial manufacturing has been that it is tedious, labor intensive, prone to human error and in addition, the filter apparatus must be located in a clean room environment. The tediousness and labor intensity that is developed in prior implementation is amply demonstrated by the use of free-standing facilities for sterilizing and determining the capability of the filter prior to conducting production runs. In the employment of such separate facilities, operating or maintenance personnel are initially required to physically transport the filter or filter and filter housing combination for sterilization. The problem engendered by the physical transport and handling of the filter is that contamination can easily occur to the detriment of the eventual product being produced, for example, during the purification of sterile pharmaceutical products. The shortcomings of the prior art are compounded upon transporting the filter to another facility for integrity testing where it is determined whether the filter's internal structure is integral in all respects. Due to the complexity of conducting integrity testing, personnel are vulnerable to making errors especially when different operators perform such testing as in shift work. It is abundantly clear from the above therefore that filter conditioning and evaluation prior to industrial use is a critical but nevertheless an expensive and onerous task for managers, particularly in view of the high standards that are now being demanded by state and federal governments as well as by the public-at-large in products that affect health and human welfare.
In addition to the above stated imperfections of existing apparatus and techniques another serious limitation is the extensive labor requirement for transporting, cleaning, sterilizing and integrity testing the filter or filter and filter housing combination. In view of both domestic and worldwide competition it is a present day requirement that production facilities have efficient operations and the prior art is totally deficient on this matter as presently existing. The present invention has obviated these shortcomings by providing automatic and in-place sterilizing and integrity testing including cleaning as an integral component to the production facility. Accordingly, production efficiency is improved, error and labor intensiveness is eliminated by virtually eliminating the human factor. As a result of the competitive aspects of the system devised by the present invention superior production results and concomitant profits are generated.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new industrial capability for automatically conditioning and testing filters in situ for purifying and sterilizing a liquid or gaseous product in any manufacturing environment.